"This is the fifth data set that we've released. And just like every other time before, we've been asked to take down political speech," Dorothy Chou, a Google senior policy analyst, wrote in a blog post. "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspectWestern democracies not typically associated with censorship."

In Spain, for example, regulators asked Google to take down 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles that discussed public figures. In Poland, a public institution wanted Google to remove links to a site that criticized it. Google denied those requests, Chou said.

In the U.S., a local law enforcement agency asked Google to remove a blog post because the agency thought it defamed the official in question; Google declined. Local law enforcement agencies also asked for the removal of 1,400 YouTube videos for alleged harassment, all of which Google also declined.

"Separately, we received a request from a different local law enforcement agency to remove five user accounts that allegedly contained threatening and/or harassing content," Google said. "We terminated four of the accounts, which resulted in the removal of approximately 300 videos, but did not remove the remaining account with 54 videos."

Of the 218 U.S. requests to remove search results that linked to defamatory content, Google removed 25 percent. Overall, the number of content removal requests received by Google between July and December 2011 increased by 103 percent compared to the previous six months.

In terms of data requests, there were 6,321 government requests for disclosure of user data in the U.S., and Google partially or completely complied with 93 percent of those demands. That was up from 5,950 between January and June 2011.

The U.S. had the most government takedown requests, followed by India with 2,207 and Brazil with 1,615. The U.K. and Germany rounded out the top five with 1,455 and 1,426 requests, respectively, though France was close behind at No. 6 with 1,404.

"We realize that the numbers we share can only provide a small window into what's happening on the Web at large," Chou said. "But we do hope that by being transparent about these government requests, we can continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviors are shaping our Web."

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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